Surah An-Noor (24) — Ayah 19

19. Indeed, those who love that indecency [22] should spread among the believers, for them is a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And Allah knows, while you do not know. [23]

[22]
Different Forms of Lewdness and Their Propagation:

Fahishah refers to any act that can arouse a person’s carnal desires. There are many forms of the propagation of lewdness. The first and most important form is the one mentioned in this context: that if someone accuses a chaste woman, then others, without investigation, begin to spread this statement from one to another. The second form is to indulge in other forms of lustfulness besides adultery (which the Quran has called “manifest lewdness”), such as men fulfilling their desires with other men, or sodomy, because of which the people of Lut were punished with stones, and in our Shariah, the punishment for sodomy is death. The third form is that men fulfill this desire with animals. Regarding this, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “If you see someone committing this act with an animal, then kill both him and the animal.” [ترمذی۔ ابواب الحدود۔ باب فیمن وقع علی البھیمۃ]

The fourth form is that women have intercourse with other women. Shariah has also set the boundaries of ‘awrah for women, meaning that no woman can, under any circumstances, expose the area from the navel to the knees in front of another woman. The custom among us that women bathe together naked in front of each other is completely against Shariah, and women embracing each other naked is an even worse act. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ strictly forbade this and said: “No woman should embrace another woman.” [بخاري۔ كتاب النكاح۔ باب لاتبا شرا المراة المراة فتنفعتها لزوجها]

From the words of this hadith, it can also be understood to mean strapping together (i.e., a woman fulfilling her sexual desire by pressing against another woman), because in the Arabic language, the word “mubasharah” is commonly used for intercourse. The fifth form is that women fulfill their sexual desires with certain animals, as some so-called civilized women living in bungalows commit indecency with their pet dogs. The ruling for this can be deduced from the third form. The sixth form is that a man narrates his intercourse with his wife to his friends in an interesting manner, or a woman discusses such matters with her female friends, or a woman, after embracing another naked woman, narrates this to her husband and informs him about the private parts of that woman so that his carnal desires are aroused and he is inclined towards her. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ has also forbidden all such matters. [بخاری۔ کتاب النکاح۔ باب لاتباشر المراۃ فتنفعھا لزوجھاالمراۃ]

Then, nowadays, many more forms of the propagation of lewdness have been invented, such as theaters, cinemas, club houses, and private rooms in hotels; lustful programs and soul-corrupting songs on radio and TV; literature that spreads lewdness, novels, stories, and dramas, and sexual literature; nude pictures of women in newspapers and advertisements; gatherings of dance and music. In short, the scope of the propagation of lewdness has become very wide these days, and in this present era, the government itself is responsible for this flood of lewdness, or the capitalists who build cinemas, theaters, and club houses, or, in order to sell their makeup products, have adopted the favorite pastime of publishing nude pictures of women, or in some institutions and houses, women are employed as saleswomen so that they may attract men and promote their business. For all these things, the same warning applies as mentioned in this verse. And it is the duty of the Islamic government to declare all these forms of lewdness as criminal offenses liable to police action, so that at least people may be saved from the punishment of this world. Otherwise, they will have to taste punishment in this world, and the punishment of the Hereafter is, in any case, certain.

[23] That is, only Allah knows how far-reaching the effects of these acts of lewdness are and how far their impact extends. How, by the lewdness of a few people or by spreading rumors of lewdness, the morals of the entire nation are destroyed and new centers of immorality are provided for immoral people. Also, when lewdness is instilled in the minds of the new generation from the beginning, how the entire nation becomes heedless of Allah and the Day of Judgment and becomes disobedient to Allah. These are things you cannot know.